Long time lurker, first time caller-

just built a quad with the prebuilt APM2 and the DIY drones kit and Ive been having issues everywhere that dont seem to be fixed by calibration, re-calibration, reinstalling or cursing. SO before anyone asks, yes, Ive calibrated the escs 30+ times, reflashed APM multiple times, recalibrated the tx and kicked the dog 50+ times. On the plus side, i havent yet busted anything, but then again i havent managed a real flight either.

The first major issue occurred due to the lousy motor mount methodology of 2 screws through the arm. It appears any torque on those screws which id call safe or responsible resulted in torque being aplied to the motor shaft causing binding. This took me a bit to figure out, but eventually i bit the bullet and used the x mount that came with the motors and secured all 4 screws to two cross bars underneath the arm largely reducing or eliminating any binding issues with motors.

The second major issue came after syncing ESCs collectively and individually. At least 10x id boot the copter and it would start the incessant ESC beeping that happens when it feels the ESCs need recalibration, so every time id recalibrate only to have it happen again a few flights later or when i reflashed it.

The second major issue appears on takeoff, where the copter will oscillate as it appears engines are not equally throttled. it seems to recalibrate enough to takeoff eventually but then fairly consistantly, will spin to the right, at varying speeds. Ill set it down, and spin up again and it seems to have stabilized itself for a moment or two, but then will drift while the motors cycle and not maintain altitude.

I am currently in stabilize mode, declination set to 6 decimal places, calibrated, lowered, louvered and two failed flights from embarking on a three state murder spree.

TX spectrum 6i w/ ar5000 rx

channel 5 is set for mode toggle ( ch7 in MP )

No other electronics or systems on board though i do have a 1.2ghz FPV tx and camx as well as inline OSD which i plan on integrating later.

There are multiple things going on here, obviously,  but most issues seem to be in the controller or escs. Any help would greatly appreciated.

Bart